First harverst (radishes) nearly ready....

Winter was *warm*. Amber's gamble during an over warm Feburary day - the last frost may actually have happened - plant and see if things turn out.

Things indeed have; Another week or two and we'll be munching fresh radishes. YUM! Cyrus is excitited - that boy loves radishes pulled straight from the ground.

The lower rock wall bed

Last year I planted in front of this rock wall, and I (nominally) amended the soil in only half the bed. I wish I would have taken pictures of that entire process... sunflowers that were in the portion of the bed that had received some compost were notably taller and better looking than those that I just planted in the dirt (little more than a sand/clay mix).

This year I've dug down about a foot breaking up the sand/clay dirt, removing the rocks, and amending the soil with cedar grove compost. In my mind there's dirt and there's soil. Dirt occurs naturally. Soil is something you have to create and nurture.

We planted watermelon (Bush Sugar Baby - 80 days), more spinach (Bloomsdale Savoy - 50 days), more broccoli (Green Sprouting Calabrese), and pumpkins (Small Sugar - 110 days). I'm skeptical that the watermelon will work ... but I was told that you can use a dome of plastic or you can prop up a sheet of plastic (southern facing) to amplify the sun and create a warmer micro-climate for the watermelon. I'll probably try that to help the watermelon along. I'd be neat if it works. It could be a viable method for other warm climate crops- peppers in particular!

Corn - a new challenge

Corn in Cascadia. Is it doable? We'll find out.

I discovered the 'three sisters' concept last year. (More info: gardenweb.com and Renee's Garden I'm determined to make it happen. Squash and beans are no problem... they're easy. Corn on the other hand, is more complicated.

First off, there's planting the corn. Corn can't just be dropped into any bed. Corn roots go deep (up to 4 ft!). "Over the course of a growing season, about 40% of the water used by corn will come from the first foot of soil, 30% from the second foot and 20% from the third foot. Less than 10 percent will be obtained from the soil below 3 feet." We diligently till and amend the soil in all our beds, but not 4 feet down.

To solve this problem, I've decided to build a new raised bed. Raised beds offer several advantages. Even with building a raised bed and importing soil from the nursery, I still have to dig down to break up and amend the existing soil - but at least I'm not digging down as far. (I'm aiming for 18-24 inches down and a 24" high raised bed). The earth under where I'm putting this bed has had excavators, my F-150 on top of it... and it's even been worked over with a compactor. Breaking it up took some work. Another benefit of raised bed gardening is that the temperature of the soil comes up faster in the spring. I expect that this raised bed will prove useful for other warm weather crops in future rotations.

A change from other crops we've grown is that corn has both female and male flowers on the same plant. (Primer) Normally the wind would provide what's needed for pollination to occur - but to ensure a strong crop I'll likely have to manually pollinate the corn.

To top it all off... lots of things beside humans like to eat corn. We've got raccoons, crows, and squirrels in abundance and they all like corn.

A worthy challenge... but worth it for the prize of fresh, sweet corn.

Rasberries

Rasberries are done and ready for the season.

Pruning, weeding, a top layer of compost (2 bags gave a 1-2" layer for a 1' x 50' bed), and then fertilizer. The fertilizer was put together by Amber - it's a recipe from a great book: Steve Solomon's "Growing Vegetables West of the Cascades".

This is the second full spring for this bunch of rasberries. Last year was a bit disappointing in terms of yield. It was good enough for lots of munching, but barely enough to also supply preserves in the freezer. I'm not sure about this year yet... but I'm pretty sure that next year will be fantastic - the root system has spread throughout the bed and new shoots are coming up all over the place. By year four we may need to thin the bed out.

New Year! Try again...

Well last year the postings became few and far between as the weather turned nicer..... but it's a new year!

Other than a couple of weeks in the middle of December, our winter has been mild. We started planting about half way through February, and we have some lovely sprouts to show for it at the end of March.

Amber and the kids started the ball rolling in our 'triangle bed' with some radishes and carrots. I finished off the bed with some broccoli, bok choi, and salad greens. I also added some fennel and marigold seeds to the mix to see if we can do better work with complementary plantings that attract some beneficial insects.

We had some stuff planted in this area last year... but this year we built up the bed and amended the soil.

Amaya and Cyrus helped me plant some flowers, more carrots, swiss chard, and (I think) some romaine. We still have half the bed to amend and plant.

The potato boxes have been planted as well. Last year the potato crop was... unsatisfying. I've since learned that you really can't let the greens shoot up more than 3 inches before you mound up the dirt. The thing is- once potatoes start growing up, they grow super fast. I'm resolved to be much more attentive (and aggressive) with getting them mounded up this year. I'd really like the fingerling crop to be good....